Canning daily? What did you can today?

[Valerie McMartin]

I'm wondering if everyone's canning up a storm this summer. I've been canning almost every day.

I've been waterbathing pickles and relish.
Pressure cooking, potatoes, wintersquash, beans. and now tonight turkey broth (always have extra and end up throwing it out - canned 5 pints). I"m pressure cooking things that can be pressure cooked but I might normally freeze because 1. want to test that "after 12 uses I won't need a screwdriver theory (use 7 still using screwdriver) and 2. the corn's not ready yet and the freezer's half full, so might not have enough freezer space for this year's crop.

I think my basement will perminently smell like boiled vinegar after all the pickling and the lack of airflow down here.

so what's have you canned today?

[Sue Mueller]

not too much. A batch of muskmelon/nectarine/apricot/red plum jam and a batch of muskmelon jam with ginger and lime basil. And a full dehydrator of stone fruit. I was very sad to have dropped my peck of peaches in the driveway - every single one was badly bruised, enough that they went to the livestock. Tomorrow is for plum preserves. Still have 15 or so pounds left.

[marlo capoccia]

that jam sounds wonderful, sue. i've never seen any canning done with melons. have you done it before? i'd love to hear how it turns out.

[Valerie McMartin]

last year my dehydrator ran 24-7. this year it hasn't even come out of storage. nothing that we dry has been plentiful for us this year.

[marlo capoccia]

we just canned some brandied peaches (one didn't seal properly so we were forced to taste it. yum!), ginger peach jam, peach cherry jam (somehow we couldn't find any raspberries in the freezer to use so we improvised some cherries) and pickled beets. not so sure we need those pickled beets as the csa is sure to keep us well-stocked with beets all winter long, but it was a good experiment either way. we still have two more pecks of peaches to can straight and we're anticipating pears and tomatoes this week. i think we've been in the kitchen every night this week! (and what a wreck our kitchen is. it spends about four hours a day clean these days.)

[crowjoy]

I hear you on the kitchen mess! I mop every day and unless you showed up exactly then, you'd never know it!

[marlo capoccia]

wow, your house must be cooking (literally). so glad for the cool air coming in. hope that pressure canner settles in for you.

[Valerie McMartin]

we've been looking into getting a geothermal system in the house. my husband's decided that my canning's going to make it a necessity so we can get airflow. lol

walk into the basement and you smell vinegar at a level that's nice. walk within a few feet of the basement kitchen and gag on it. lol

when we bought the house i never thought I"d be using the downstairs kitchen daily. but upstairs I dont' have enough height between the stove and the range for the canners. it's funny how it's worked out. but it's nice having a canning kitchen. lol

[Krys Cail]

Well, I don't think I am canning today-- have been focused on making and freezing about 30 containers of peach salsa. That would be a "when life hands you late blight, make fruit salsa" attitude. A few tomatoes in it, but, just a few.

Canned Currant-Blueberry-Peach jam yesterday. As is so often the case, it looked REALLY beautiful before I cooked it down to the point where it would gel. Then it just looked nice. Have some apples that need processing, but will probably be doing a slow-cooker thing, either applesauce or apple butter, which will have them going in the canner tomorrow.

Also going on the fermentation thing yesterday-- another batch of dill pickles started, and some sauerkraut (really, my husband Tom did the sauerkraut-- he has the cabbage-shredding gift.... goes with his outrageously superior piecrust making skills.... really handy, he is).

[crowjoy]

I took a break yesterday... to make cheese instead. :D

Been canning sweet pickles (green tomato and Katie's fine cukes!) and relish (green tomato.) The dill pickles are fermenting. The herbs are drying and the last load of potatoes got turned into mashers to freeze, but then we ate them. I have a few more I think I'll just keep incorporating into meals since it's not enough to can.

[Valerie McMartin]

I'm getting corn ready to can. by the time I'm ready to start up the pressure cooker, hopefully my son will be ready for another nap.

we finally got our 1st of 3 plantings of corn ready to eat.

[Valerie McMartin]

I canned red beats today. Is a little sipthoning (not sure how to spell that) normal? the jars are almost as full of liquid as when they went into the pressure cooker, but they definately lost some of the water into the canner, since the water at the bottom of the canner is red.

I'm at pressure cooker use 9 or more and starting to just grab the screw driver when I open it. I can tell which spots will need it just by looking at it after the screws are released now. I think my husband has permenantly lost his screwdriver. lol

Valerie